18. Wish You Were Here.

Damon had heard how the shells inside Mariella had begun to crack, just enough to expose themselves to Mariella's immune system. The immune system began destroying bacteria and other substances shell after shell, rendering all pathogens and substances harmless.

Damon knew that Mariella would have to be furious with him for so long before all the shells and contents would go. Mariella's fury would be the catalyst for this reaction to happen. The only downside here was, that from this day on, Mariella had her own rage too. This was a simple solution, but Mimi. He had no way to help Mimi.

He knew that so many more of those shells had been drained into Mimi, and she would unfortunately have to feel them in her skin for some time. Damon thought it was wrong and pissed him off when he couldn't help Mimi. All he could do was be there when one shell broke, and Mimi needed treatment.

It took five days, and then Mariella was safe. Damon had already prepared Mimi's body earlier so that she could go on her own when the time was right. He had got all the info on Mimi's money and did it everyday something so every single card was now in his possession.

He had already explained everything to Mimi and explained long and hard that neither Mimi's willpower nor chaos or even alpha power would help her because Mimi had a different kind of shells. Damien had made it so that Mimi would suffer. She had not the shells of energy beings.

Damon went to Mariella and said, "Now, darling, now you're going to be okay. No more two straps, no more medical problems. You see, darling. I had to make you mad, and good for me. Because it took enough rage for the shells to break slightly, your body destroyed them. Now it's all gone, and Mimi's all right; look there she goes. The only downside is that you have now your own rage and you need to learn to manage it."

Damon sat on the bed and waited for Mariela's reaction. She stood up and pulled Damon to her standing position, wrapped herself around him, and kissed him long and greedily. Mariella had no words. Damon Darling did everything that he could to save her and she was very grateful. So she would not be anymore so sick. They began to tear the clothes off each other, and their passion knew no bounds.

I wasn't interested in anything else but decorating. I started putting the castle back together, and I found secret passages, and they often had a couple of rooms connected. Damon had taken all of my money, but that did not mean that I could get some more. I had plenty of saves, Reddington, missions, sniping, whatever if I needed to have some money. Now I made for myself nests, perfect nests. No one would ever find them. I would have my peace guaranteed, and everything would be fine.

Day by day, my project progressed, as I carried on the nest whenever I had anything. I had bought beds and blankets and rugs and all sorts of nice things. Then I did the flea jobs now and then, and again, I didn't always pay so much attention to the time. I was in the castle, not on missions but planning and talking on the phone and looking at satellites. So if someday I have time, then I can go do a few missions. Then one day, I realized I'd been here for a month, and well, the rest of the crew were fucking; as I said, they were energy creatures; I wasn't.

I'm a flea and a decorator. My nest turned out great.. it was pink, light green, and a couple of different shades. It's kind of like pear and apple shades. I knew that the hectic month of our heat would not turn into anything. I was already learning to enjoy the moment and then move on.

Time went on, and my life was quite mild, so to speak, with no big crises or anything. I ate, did my nests, and enjoyed my peace. I liked to be on my own. I had learned to do it over the years, and even though I had Adam and Charles, I also learned to share. They needed to fuck their brains out. I did not. 

The nausea had been mild for a couple of days, and I hadn't paid much attention to it. But then it got worse, and soon I was lying on the toilet floor and throwing up straight into the toilet bowl just all the time. Damn shells had broken again. I was weak as a kitten, sick as a dog, and pissed off the majority of my time. 

Luckily, after 8 hours, it subsided enough for me to grab a bucket and move to the sofa. The vomiting took so much out of me I couldn't believe it. Then, after three days of vomiting, I started to get cold, so infection started to take hold. Once upon a time, if Damon had known this, he would have come straight away, all Dr. Damon and took care of me, but not anymore. Even though my Damon was still inside him, his priority, second and third, too would be Mariella. Always and forever. 

Fine, we'll manage. I lay in bed in the middle of blankets and was still throwing up. Two days later, muscle aches had joined the mix, not just in my limbs. Trying to vomit when your stomach is on fire is not nice, and you instinctively watch your muscles.

I was getting pretty exhausted and said to Charles, "My love, how busy are you? I've got a medical on again, and I wondered if you could get some dental stuff for some symptoms. This has been on for several days already. I am kind of beat. "

Charles replied worriedly, "Honey, you should have told me earlier where you were. Don't worry, I'll get to you."

Soon, Charles teleported into my little lair. He took one look at me and sighed quite worriedly too. 

He looked around and said, "Salvatore is not going to appreciate this. But let honey, I'll check you over now and see if I can get some symptom relief."

Charles began to examine me thoroughly, feeling all over me with extreme tenderness but firmness. He took away my blankets, not much talked but kept his grips firm and sure. 

Then he said, "You have a brisk fever, you are very dehydrated, your muscles are in some kind of permanent cramp, and the nausea is not going away. Fine. I'll take a tube of your blood and go and see Mariella. First, I'll move you to another room, so it's a bit easier to treat. But not medbay yet. Don't worry."

Charles scraped me up in the blankets and moved me into one of the larger bedrooms I had decorated with animal prints. He gave me a lot of blankets and stroked my hair out of my eyes.

He took a blood tube and a needle and pulled my blood directly from my heart when I was so dehydrated. He tried to find a vein but did not manage to it. 

He said, "Now I'm going to have a consultation with this. As you know, Mariella can give us a formula so we can do the dental stuff. There's nothing to worry about. We have a machine that can make stuff too, so you will be just fine. "

I didn't care; I just stayed shivering in the blankets and now and then vomiting bloody mucus. Charles had given me a smaller container, as there was little anything to expel in my stomach.

Charles asked Mariella in his head, "Mariella, are you free? Mimi has broken shells, and I would like to have your opinion on this blood. "

Mariella sighed. She said, "Fine, bring that tube over here so we can both sniff. Damon is Mimi's protector; he too, can and often does help even better than I can. We're going to the kitchen downstairs and come on in. "

Charles teleported over and handed the tube to Mariella.

Mariella sniffed, frowned, and said, "The rescue radar doesn't say anything yet."

Damon took the tube and sniffed. He frowned and tasted some blood. After a while, he started rubbing between his eyes. He muttered something to himself and Mariella could see from her radar for Damon that velvet was coming, but not much else. 

Damon said, "Fine, we need darling to go and see the lady's condition, then we'll know what to do. The lady may not appreciate it, but it's getting to the point of dehydration, where something needs to be done. And you didn't get the blood drawn. I think the lady wants a couple of flanks if that game's on again."

Mariella said in her mind to Damon, "So far only thing your fangs want to make is velvet. Nothing more." Damon sighed in disappointment. 

Charles had no choice but to take them to Mimi.

When I smelled the passionfruit, I knew that Salvatore must have had a sniff of my blood. It takes a little time when I get well without treatment, but I'm in no hurry.

Damon walked into the room and said, "Fine, my lady. Let's have a look at you then. I can tell you right now that I'm going to take some blood tests, and if you don't want a flank, you might want to see if you can find the veins. I'm going to check you over, and then we'll see. It might be wise to transfer you to Medbay."

Damon came and relentlessly took the blankets off my body and began to feel me. I tried to be brave and take it all in. As he pressed with various points, I cursed to myself in my head in a talented manner.

Finally, Damon looked at me and said, "You have a wider vocabulary than me, Mimi. It's polite to swear in your mind, but then you should remember that I'm still a strong fucking telepath, and I knew and felt quite directly how tender you are. "

He stood up, looked at Mariella, and said, "Keep your darling shields up. These are contagious germs. Now, we may have to isolate the young lady in another house. You're not coming, darling. I will take Mimi myself and get her rehabilitated; this is not a negotiation ."

Mariella fell silent and walked out of the room.

Damon approached me and said, "Fine, I will move you to another house and give you symptom relief, some meds, and when you need to be isolated, as that bug is contagious to the rest of us. I'll have to see if I can always help. "

Damon moved me to my French vineyard.

After Damon had gotten Mimi moved, he came back, to be with Mariella. She started to come up with a fever in day later and Damon realized just how contagious the bug was. He could not go to Mimi while she had the bug. Damon did not put his fangs in Mariella's neck but kept her in bed, and gave her fever meds. Adam and Charles helped him wash her, feed her, and pick her off the floor, as she was too restless with fever. Pack was taking care of Mariella even though she was as contagious as Mimi, but they kept shields on and took care of her as she was sick and pitiful. 

They gave me a couple of pill bottles, loaded me with 10 syringes of anti-nausea medicine, put in a cannula, and left. It was my time again. Oh, yeah. This job now involves such an exercise in imagining that I am in better shape than I would be. I am in a fit state of mind.

Damien called soon, and a few days later, he was once again very explanation mood. 

"You see baby, every time these tender shells broke off, they stress your system, those triple shells. I will know what type of triple shell will then break once you get your symptoms. You will know it. There are bacteria, metals, and drugs. Those three things will come when one type of shell breaks open. Now bacteria will be a novelty, it won't be contagious to pack, only bugs from these tender ones are. You see, you are so strong and since I can't get to you anymore so easily, I needed to come up with a stressor as shed sessions are a rarity nowadays, you being safe in the pack. See, these shells are now the stressor. "

He took a brief pause and continued.

"My idea is to get an idea of how much stress it takes a certain type of shell to break. My triple shells. if I get enough data, to start to understand stress what, let's say new conductive polymer with a hint of metal can withstand, I have studied you, your stress, and your pain and I can pretty well compare you and humans, let's say that human gets influenza, goes in quite a poor condition, well it takes for you, good brisk five weeks in the shed to get in that point. Or cancer. Think of humans with end-stage cancer. Now we are talking about almost six months in the shed. My shells have proven very tough. And you are so darn strong, but my tender shells just won't let you keep your condition good, and all this stress affects your enzymes, then you need again platinum to the liver, stressor there again." 

His voice just droned on. I was sick. Weak, in pain, and now again, I have to listen again to his chronic vocal diarrhea. He kept on and on about how he would weaken me. One medical crisis at a time and there won't be always a long pause between them. 

I needed to be an ice queen. To block my weaknesses. Sickness too. Because otherwise, I long to be held, close, and rest, and now I have no one to keep me close. And I knew this was what Damien was trying to do. To make me miserable and make sure I didn't have anyone.

Then Damien said, "Come on baby, look out. I am here. You see, I am not an energy creature and not a wizard. I am immune to that bug. I know that you can walk, so come on out, let me in and I will take care of you, not torture. I show you that I am a better choice than Damon, Adam, or Charles. No shed, nothing else than help. No jellying, no restraints. I even do not smell wet dogs anymore. "

God help me, but I thought for a moment, then voices from upstairs made me alert. I stood up. Not a straightforward thing to do, but I did recognize these two, and they must have seen that I was here and come to see if I had gigs.

Sam and Dean. Boys had worked on fleas now for quite a few years while Castiel had to do some heavenly jobs. Boys had more or less crush on me, and they were quite protective for me too.

Dean looked at me and said, "You look awful. What on earth has happened to you and where is your new pack?"

I managed to explain everything. Even triple shells and boys did not listen to any objections as they started to care for me. I told them about Damien's offer to care for me. They did not let me out, not at all, and called a few guys to make sure that Damien was nowhere near the house. Like I said, protective much.

Not that they could help me much, but they picked me off the floor, washed me, and even made me drink and eat something, what little I could. But what helped most, I was in their arms. Almost all the time and even if they weren't my pack, they cared for me and helped me. 

My symptoms lasted two months. Damon had put his radar off because he couldn't deal with me, and likewise, the rest of the pack had just continued their fuckfest while I threw up for eight weeks straight. Mariella had gotten better after two weeks and then they had unloaded. 

None of Damon's meds worked, and I knew that had been the purpose, because Damien called me several times and gave me all the facts. How would I always be infected, and there could still be some psychotropics involved to intensify the need for care?

How he was enjoying himself while I wasn't getting what I needed. How it made his soul chime. Oh fuck, I was disgusted and pissed off. Rage was of no use in this disease. I just had to endure it. Boys helped me to withstand my state, and it pissed off Damien. I just knew that boys might be busy next time, and I needed to get my mind on the fact that I would be alone.

Boys had gone by the house, Charles had been free and they had gotten some fewer meds for me. Charles had been upset by Mariella's illness and neither of the boys didn't bother to explain that Mariella had been as infectious as I, but she was cared for. I would not.

The boys were quite upset, and I told them to keep it together. It was always quite amazing to see just how loyal my people were to me. My fleas. To them, I was their idol and there was not much that some of them would not do to me. This was just my new life in the pack.

You're not in terribly good shape after a disease like that, and the symptoms had receded, so was the condition. I lay in bed, unable to do anything. Boys had left, they had given what they could, and it had to be more than enough. But in the future, it might be that no more help was on offer.

I then called Adam. He didn't answer, so I left a message. "Mimi here, I'm no longer contagious, but you can tell the Salvatore that none of the drugs worked. The cannula clogged up in a week, and I couldn't get a new one to fit. Sam and Dean took care of me the whole time. Damien was also outside. He tried to get me to let him in to take care of me. I know Mariella got sick, too. So, I'm still pretty much finished. I'll be back one day when I can get myself down to at least 30 kilos. And hydrated."

I weighed a maximum of 27 kilos, which could be less. I wasn't so sure. I was so damn tired, my fitness gone, my body was very weak. 

This was a tough illness because nothing helped much. The fever med that the boys had gotten, worked a bit but did not break my fever. My cannula was really clogged because I was dehydrating so fast, and I didn't have the strength to get more fluid. It's fucking awful to be ill when you know you need help, and you can't get anyone.

Sam and Dean had been godsent, but in the future, when Damien lurked literally into the yard, I had to keep my people safe. Now, I didn't want to risk a single flea. As Sark targeted fleas, had targeted them for quite some time and Damien worked with Sark, so not a hard decision at all. No wonder Damien had stuffed me with so many bags of these shells and then the triple shells. it would take a while for me to get any sort of shape and I hope I still have enough enzymes. 

Damon was quiet at breakfast when Adam and Charles came to the table. Adam had let Charles listen to Mimi's message, but neither was going to say a word to Salvatore. They had realized after talking with the boys that Mariella had been as infectious as Mimi, but they had had their energy shields as Damon had ordered everyone to care for Mariella but kept his radar closed for Mimi.

Mimi's symptoms had been much worse, and the boys had helped, but Charles could not help like he had let Mimi down badly, too. He blamed Damon for that too, but kept his opinion on himself. Always damn, Salvatore orders the whole pack to worship Mariella. 

They were just about to go out for a meal to take care of Mimi. Now, it would be their turn. Charles was almost physically distressed as he imagined Mimi vomiting for eight weeks with the boys, being in their arms, shaking, in pain, no medicine working, and not even getting any fluids in her. Damien lurking outside, trying to get her to let him in. Fucking, fucking Damien.

Adam was in the same mood, but now they had to be completely normal and ensure the pack leader didn't get any clues. Charles knew Mimi had been hanging on by her rage and willpower for the whole eight weeks, and that's why they were better off going to treat her because Mimi wanted them. Yes, he knew Mimi had a month with Damon in the heat of passion, but so did they for a month, even if it was in two pieces. Mimi was his, and he was hers. Boys' descriptions had been almost too much to bear. They had been quite damn angry well to Damien, to Damon even, and then Mimi had told them to stay away so Damien or Sark could not get them.

Mariella felt that Adam and Charles were deeply distressed because she was then the protector of them all, including Damon. And she was confused. What was it that was suddenly making them so anxious? She knew Mimi had been contagious, but Damon had left the good drugs and cannulated Mimi.

He had done it at the risk of his health because these germs could also strike Damon. She had been ill by just smelling that blood and Pack had cared for her until she had gotten better and she had not been obedient and patient. Mariella furrowed her brows and wondered what she should do now.

She went over to Charles's lap and said, "Can I come and drink some of your blood? You could give me your pheromones. You have such lovely ones. Something is bothering you, and badly, tell me."

Charles let Mariela eat naughtily, but he wasn't up to the job, even though he came. Mariella had undone his trousers and pierced herself in his prick, and was now fucking him while drinking very naughtily. Eventually, Mariella came, and Charles stroked her and let her linger in his arms for a while.

Mariella said, "Start telling me. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me."

Charles sighed and said, "We're going to see Mimi soon, so don't be surprised. It may take a while, but I won't bother you anymore about it now."

Mariella said, "Do I always have to look at the past, or what's the problem? Start telling me."

Charles said briefly, "Damon's drugs were ineffective, and Mimi's cannula was blocked. Sam and Dean took care of her. Damien was outside of the bubble trying to get her to let him in, to care for her. The boys kept her in their arms, as she had hallucinations from the sheds. Her fever made her crawl onto the floor, and she could not eat. Even pink powerful fever med did not break her fever fully. She is now safe to approach, so we are going to help. You don't need to think about this. Adam and I are doctors, and we'll get her well."

Mariella was shocked. She got off Charles's lap, went over to Damon, and asked, "Those drugs you left Mimi with must have been the right ones?"

Damon furrowed his brows and said, "They were, and they were strong. Yes, they worked. Why on earth would you doubt that now?"

Mariella said, "They didn't work, and the cannula was blocked. Adam and Charles are off to help Mimi, whose symptoms have only now stopped. I just looked into the past. Mimi has been vomiting for eight weeks, unable to get fluids much at all at the moment, I would say, weighing less than 30 kilos. Sam and Dean were with her. Damien was outside of the bubble, trying to persuade her to let him in, to take care of her. He has a bad obsession with Mimi. Mimi was seeing hallucinations from the sheds. Her fever did not break even your pink stuff. They kept her in their arms. She was crawling on the floor."

Damon sighed, and he felt like he had let Mimi down so that he could fuck Mariella. Like said, this protector radar. When it was off, Mimi didn't even cross his mind. And Adam and Charles must have been thinking about Mimi again for two months.

Then why is he twisting the relationship with Mimi when he doesn't seem to give a fuck when his radar is off? Again, it's not fair to Mimi if he slips into her heart and then leaves her in the lurch, not even though that month made his soul sing.

So does Mariella, but he'd learned that a lot of things make him feel so fucking perfect, but now this betrayal. Mimi probably thinks he deliberately gave her drugs that don't work. This is not going to fucking work.

Damon finished eating and said seductively to Mariella. "Come on, sweetheart, and I'll put that little bitch in her place."

Mariella was desperate again. She noticed how Damon automatically started to blame himself and then retreated into his protective shell and wanted to take Mariella to fuck her.

Not even to interfere with Mimi. She didn't have time to go to the trouble of making out with him yet, but Damon had to get unloaded. Adam and Charles will get to save Mimi, not Damon, which would have been the right choice.